my childhood home in the 80's
1) They didn't have someone posting every 5 minutes on social media insisting they are crappy parents because their kids are not eating organic food (or because they yell at their kids or don't yell at their kids...the list goes on and on)
2) They didn't have other parents giving them the evil eye in public because they were not abiding by the social media posts mentioned in reason #1.
3) They didn't have to worry about their kid's birthday parties. They would call a few of our friends over, have us play outside and then we would eat cake. I have adopted this old way of birthday parties and I highly recommend it. No gifts, no goody bags... just good old fashion fun.
4) They didn't have to worry about rear facing "recommendations" with car seats. I feel like the worst parent because I flipped my 18 month around to face forward. By the time I was 18 months I was probably standing next to my dad in the old family pick up truck (That is a joke. I was probably laying down in the way back of the station wagon).
5) They didn't have to worry about toys (other than the mass hysteria over buying a cabbage patch doll at Christmas). We didn't watch hours of cartoons littered with commercials so that we would harass our parents for the rest of the day about the super duper loopy loop race track. I am just exhausted thinking about it. I highly recommend ditching cable.
6) They didn't have to worry about vaccines. This goes back to the #1 reason.
7) They didn't have to worry about parenting styles. Attachment, free range, tiger...blah blah blah. They were all of them wrap into one mommy that hugged, let us explore, pushed us to do our best and kissed us good night.
8) They didn't have kids with cell phones. This might seem like a bad thing but 80's mom didn't have to worry about 24 hour access in their kid's hands to social media and you tube.
9) They didn't have to worry about how they screwed up their kids on a daily basis because it wasn't even a dialogue.
10) They didn't have to worry about keeping their kids busy all day. We played outside ALL day. TV watching was reserved for when we were sick, Saturday mornings and rainy days. This goes back to the #5 reason. Sure we had some toys but nothing like the kids today. Sometimes I think parents don't kick their kids outside because of all the money spent on toys. This also goes back to reason #3. We didn't get massive amounts of toys for our birthdays.
The point of this list is to illustrate (with humor) that we need to stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and what they think of our parenting. If you are the opposite of the 80's mom and it is because you feel it is the best way to parent, then you are doing it right too. I just want parents to be themselves and not what everyone else is telling them to be. I think the biggest difference between today's mom and the mom of the 80's is they didn't care, better yet, they didn't even know to care what other people thought about their parenting. Lets get back to that time.
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